Young by heart, lost by choice
by doragonbat
Summary: A girl named Sophie refuses to grow up in her mind, despite being considered a grown up by her world rules. On a night, she was fighting her own train of thoughts, her desperate and childish wish came true. Peter Pan came to the rescue and her adventure in Neverland began.
1. Chapter 1

In a clear night of Spring, a young girl struggles to sleep in her warm and comfy bed. Despite loving to sleep, she couldn't do it tonight as her mind wouldn't stop the storm of thoughts about what most people fear… Responsibilities. The thought of becoming an adult, which well, she already was, but not in her own mind, was just unbearable.  
'Peter Pan was right, I don't want to be an adult! Peter, save me!' Sophie said sobbing in a childish way, as usual.  
As the night kept going, Sophie's mind entered the fantasy word and she forgot all about reality, making her calm and eventually fall asleep, but through ought the night something woke her up. A knock on her window.  
'Oh my god, what was that?' She sits on her bed instinctively, looking all around her room. ' W-what if it's a ghost? I don't have salt here!' She pulled her blankets up as to cover her face in fear. Another knock was heard. She looked to her side, following the noise that lead her sight to her bedroom window. She eventually gained the courage to face the supposed ghost, got up in a jump and opened the window screaming to the outside 'Fuck you ghost! I'm trying to sleep, so if you want to get in that badly, here! I'll leave this open for you. But if you're bad… Please don't kill me!' She begged and hopped to her bed, hiding under the blankets.  
'What's a ghost?' A voice was heard from the inside of her room.  
'Go away, Satan!' Sophie said holding on to her blankets even tighter.  
'I'm not Satan, whoever that is… I'm Peter Pan.'  
Sophie peeked through her blankets, looking to the bottom of her bed but she couldn't see anything of how dark it was. Trying to see better she uncovers her face more, when out of a sudden a face appears above her, so close to her own face, she could feel the warmth of that person. So Peter could see her better, Tinkerbell helped lightning her, by standing beside him, making him look creepy as hell. Sophie jumped out of bed screaming in fear, leading herself up to the corner of her room. 'No, no… You're not real!' She covered her eyes in her hands.  
'Of course I am, silly! See?' Peter poked her forehead. Sophie looked at him and started screaming again, crawling up into a ball on the floor of her room as she whispered to herself 'no, no, no, no, no'.  
After a few minutes of Sophie's mumbling, she noticed nothing was happening, so she peeked through her fingers, looking into her room to see Peter Pan sitting on her bed with his legs crossed and supporting his head on his hand, with his elbow on his knee. Tinkerbell was sitting on his shoulder, lighting his face. He didn't look scary now, he looked like… Peter Pan, adorable Peter Pan, but confused Peter Pan.  
Sophie sat up on the floor. 'Are you really Peter Pan?' Peter got up to his feet as he saw Sophie responding naturally again.  
'Don't I look like Peter Pan to you?' He said as he started flying closer to her, resting his feet on the floor again, to not spook her too much. 'Come on!' He held his hand to her, so she would get up and follow him.  
'Are we going to Neverland?' Sophie asked taking his hand. Peter without a struggle pulled her up, making her feel like she was flying already.  
'Yes, mam! You will never have to grow up there! Isn't that what you asked for?' He said with the brightest smile.  
'I just can't believe this is happening…' She said as Peter kept pulling her to her window. 'Wait!' She stopped him for a few seconds. 'I just need to go get something, it won't take long.' Sophie ran outside of her room, leaving Peter puzzled. She came back in less than a second with two creatures, one in each hand. Peter looked even more confused now.  
'What are those?' He asked, scratching his head beneath his beanie.  
'They're my piggies!'  
'Aren't they too small for pigs?'  
'They are not pigs! They're guinea pigs!'  
'...What?'  
'I'm ready!' said Sophie close to the window. 'But how will I fly?' She looked at Peter but back at her window right after. 'I remember! All it takes is a little faith and trust!' Before Peter could do anything, Sophie was already jumping out of the window with her piggies on each of her shoulders. She opened her arms wide as she jumped out, and as she started falling she realised. 'I forgot the pixie duuuust!' As she fell both piggies went flying up, with the strength of the wind.  
Peter ran out of the window and caught her in time, by both her arms. As he caught her, both guinea pigs, fell on top of his head.  
In her mind, for some reason she stopped falling and was now flying in the sky, right above some buildings. 'Wait… I'm flying! Peter, oh my god, I have magic powers!' She said looking back to try and see Peter behind her, but she heard a boyish laugh coming from above. She looked up and saw Peter holding her arms, so she wouldn't fall. 'Oh…'  
'You did forget the pixie dust.' Peter landed her on top of a roof. As they landed, both guinea pigs hid inside Peter's beanie so frightened, Peter could feel them shaking on his head.  
He took off his beanie with the piggies inside. He held it open with both hands in front of Sophie. 'I believe these are yours.' Sophie looked inside to see both piggies next to each other with frightened eyes. She picked them up and they hid in her shoulders wrapped up in her long hair. 'Why are you bringing them to Neverland?'  
'Well, so they won't age with me! They're my babies after all.'  
'Babies? So, you're their mother?' Peter placed his beanie back on his head and crossed his arms, listening.  
'Not literally, of course. But I care for them as if they were' Sophie pet the peeking head of one of her piggies, while smiling at them.  
'Then you can be our mother!' said Peter with excitement while lifting off the ground with his hands on his waist.  
'I don't think I'm like Wendy… I wouldn't be a very good mother to humans. But I could be the first lost girl!'  
'A lost girl… Hmm… But we only have boys in Neverland…' said Peter placing his hand on his chin with a deliberating expression. As he was thinking, Tinkerbell flew to the front of his nose and made some tinkling sounds. 'You're right. It's getting late. We need to go.' He looked at Tinkerbell and made a movement with his head directing her to Sophie. 'Go on.' Tinkerbell, looked at her and crossed her arms with a frown. 'We are taking her with us, so you're only wasting time, Tink. Or do you prefer that I take her in my arms' He said looking at her with a teasing expression.  
'C'mon Tinkerbell, do it for them!' said Sophie smiling. She then picked the black piggy up with both hands by his belly, leaving his back legs dangling, and placed him in front of her, making the piggy lick Tinkerbell's face. Tinkerbell stepped back with the wet lick, cleaning her face with even more anger as Peter laughed hysterically. She then flew above Sophie and sprayed her with big amounts of a sparkling dust and returned to Peter's shoulder with a sulky expression.  
'Thanks, Tink! But shouldn't your… piggies have dust too?'  
'Oh, I wouldn't think that's a good idea, they have the tendency of running away. If you give them the option to fly, I don't think I would ever see them again.'  
'I thought they liked you.' Peter said surprised.  
'I guess they do, but they're scared easily.'  
'Well, let's get on with it!' Peter held his hand to Sophie once more, to help her get off the ground. As Sophie took Peter's hand and started flying a tremendous feeling of joy filled her body. She could feel the wind running through her face and hair as she flew through the night sky. She looked to her side and saw Peter smiling at her, only their wide open arms with their hands held together, breaking them apart as they flew. Suddenly, Sophie retracted her arms.  
'No one warned me that flying would make the night so cold.' She shivered as she embraced herself.  
'I don't know what you mean. I'm perfectly fine!' said Peter as he turned himself around, placing both his arms behind his head as if he was laying on an invisible bed in mid-air. 'You girls are weak.'  
Sophie looked at him shocked with his statement.  
'There it is!' Said Peter turning around once more and pointing ahead. 'Second star-' Sophie interrupted him before he could finish. 'Second star to the right, straight on 'till morning, I know. Let's see who's weak!' Sophie looked at him with a mad face and started flying as fast as she could, leaving Peter behind. Peter stopped for a moment processing what just happened. He then gave a mischievous smile and started following after her, trying to beat her. Tinkerbell face palms seeing Peter going with it and follows after him.


	2. Chapter 2

As the sun rises above the sky and the darkness fades away, Sophie starts to see an island forming in the distance. She smiles at this sight but before she could fly any further, a sudden grip is felt on one of her legs, as she is quickly pulled back. She hears Peter's laugh, as he outruns her. Tinkerbell follows right behind him but stops in front of Sophie just to stick her tongue out at her. She then turns back around and flies with such strength that a great amount of her dust flies into Sophie's face, making her lose track of what's happening. As Sophie rubs her eyes in order to see, she looks to the front, where she can see Peter already far ahead, going down to the island.  
'That sparkling bitch!' She rushes to the island with an anger built up inside of her, making her go even faster than before, but as she gets closer to it, she realises she has no clue where Peter is, or where she's supposed to go. 'Dammit… It's not fair to win this way…' She end up finding some track of pixie dust down below, close to the top of the trees, so she decides to follow it, until she reaches the ground. 'Peter?' She tries to call for him and continues searching through ought the forest. Suddenly a bunch of little boys jump out of some bushes in front of her, followed by Peter. 'Shoot!' Peter screams at his boys, as they all start to throw some sort of slimy balls. She covers her face until they stop and they all burst laughing at her.  
'Oh… Spit balls, so nice… So original.' She says as Peter flies up to her.  
'I won!' He says floating in front of her with his super proud face and his hand against his chest.  
'It's not fair! Your… tiny fairy threw dust at me! I couldn't even see until you were already so far ahead…' As she says this, Tinkerbell is sitting on a leaf close by, also very proud of herself.  
'Oh… Well, I still won, so what do I get?' He said smiling at her.  
'You get that I don't hurt you, right now. Trust me, that's a great gift.' Peter looks at her confused but ends up laughing at it.  
'Alright, I accept it! Come meet the lost boys.' He grabbed Sophie's hand and started pulling her towards the kids, still behind the bushes. 'You can come out now, boys. This is Sophie, she's your new moth- I mean… She is… She's Sophie!' The boys come out to look at her better and form a circle around her.  
'Right… Hello!' Sophie waves at the boys, smiling awkwardly.  
'She looks older than Wendy.' Said one of the boys looking up at her.  
'That's because I am 19.' Sophie replies.  
'Doesn't that mean she's an adult?!' All the boys start backing away from her and stare at Peter shocked and slightly frightened. Then one of the boys gains courage to make a stand.  
'She doesn't belong here! Go away!' All the boys start backing him up and throwing at her small rocks they find on the floor.  
Peter steps in, getting in front of Sophie. 'Hey! Attention!' The boys stop and form a line in front of Peter, each boy side by side. 'She's 19 years old and in her world it would mean she is an adult, but she's not.' All the boys stand quiet in confusion.  
'She's not?' One of them asks.  
'No. Because in her heart, she is a kid who hasn't grown up yet. So it doesn't matter what their stupid rules say! I say she's a kid like us!'  
'Yeah!' All the boys start screaming at the same time in defiance of her world rules.  
'Now go greet her like you should have from the beginning!' Peter steps aside and smiles at Sophie, as the boys start running back to her with cheers of happiness.  
She looks at Peter with a grateful look in her eyes, smiling at him, and Peter shakes his head slightly at her in understanding. She then got on her knees and hugged all the boys at once, so tight, they all started to complain. As she stopped they noticed the little piggies on her shoulders.  
'What are those?' As the boy pointed at them, both piggies hid underneath her hair. Sophie looked at both her shoulders.  
'Oh! These are my guinea pigs. You can pick them up, but only if you're careful.' Two of the boys received the piggies in their hands with an amazed expression on their faces.  
'Boys, let's show Sophie our hidden place!' Peter waved his hand in his direction, for the boys to follow him. They all started to run, including the ones who had the piggies, who were even more thrilled than the rest.  
'Hey, wait!' Sophie said getting up from the ground as she saw the boys taking her piggies away. 'Don't run, you must be gentle!' They were so far already that they couldn't hear her among the screams of joy they constantly make at every new event they depart on. She started following them as quickly as she could, so she wouldn't lose them as before, but the ground of the forest was so uneven, it was hard for her to run without accidently falling, so she had to walk carefully.  
As Sophie pushed away the leafs that were blocking her vision. She saw the boys running towards a large tree with some sort of holes that actually looked like tiny doors and windows. She eventually caught up with them, as they waited for her to arrive, seeing her struggle with the path.  
'So, is it here you guys live?' She asked as she walked up to them, but before any of them could answer, Sophie's foot got caught up in a tree root that was emerging from the ground and Peter's reflexes were faster than hers, making him catch her with his arm before she could hit the ground.  
'You are very clumsy.' Peter said as he laughed, still holding her in his arm. Sophie quickly got up to her feet as he made that statement.  
'I-I'm not clumsy!' She said as she as cheeks gained a rosy tone. 'It's the floor that is all uneven.'  
'I guess we must all have walked on a different floor then.' He said teasing her.  
'Don't even. You flew all the way here, of course you didn't trip.' Said Sophie with a sassy tone. Peter couldn't think of a better response to that, so he crossed his arms with a slight irritated look. The boys tried to hold in their laughs at Peter's defeat but they couldn't help give small giggles. Peter looked at them with the same look and they immediately stopped, intimidated by their leader.  
'Are you going to show me the way in?' She said, giving him a cocky smile. Peter turned to the tree, without pronouncing a word and held one of the doors open. All the boys got quickly inside to avoid the heavy tension surrounding the outside of the tree house. Sophie walked by Peter, stopping at the entrance to look at him. 'Thank you.' She said with a confident look and she walked through the small opening.  
The inside of the house was small, but big enough for all the boys to fit and have their own beds. It was cosy and warm inside, lighted by a yellowish light coming from torches around the walls that gave the place a comfortable and secure feeling.  
Sophie contemplated the place as the boys settled in their beds and played with each other. A warm smile formed on her face as she strangely felt she was at home. She then felt Peter's presence behind her and turned to look at him.  
'Which one is my bed?' She asked with a smile.  
'That one.' Peter pointed at a bed across the room in the corner. Sophie could feel that he was still upset for losing the argument, but she tried to ignore that and be friendly. She walked up to her bed that was underneath another bed, connected by branches of trees, making it look like a bunkbed. The twins were laying down on the top bed next to each other. They were the ones who now had the guinea pigs inside their onesies. They looked down at Sophie as she sat on her own bed to try it out. But as soon as she sits on the mattress made of leafs, her bed breaks in half, right where she sat, making the branches that connect the beds tremble and the top bed unstable enough to also break down in the middle. As the top bed breaks one of the sides hits, her head, making her go slightly to the side and both twins slip to the middle of the bed, hitting their heads together. When this happens Peter bursts out laughing as he lifts off the air, placing both his hands on his stomach as the slight pain hits him for laughing too hard.  
'I guess you're clumsy and fat!' Peter says in-between his laughs. Sophie looks at him with an upset face as she rubs her head to ease the pain. Peter ends up getting tired of laughing so hard and sits on a chair right behind him, but he went down so fast the chair flipped over with his weight and he fell off to the ground. He stops laughing at this point and Sophie wanted to keep in her laughs but she couldn't take it as all of the boys started laughing at the same time. Peter looking at Sophie starts laughing as well at his clumsiness.  
Sophie then gets up from the bed, walking up to Peter and hands him her hand.  
'I guess we're even.' She says smiling. Peter takes her hand but barely makes any effort to get up, as he lifts himself off the ground flying. He smiles at her and realises it's time his tribe accepted a new member. A lost girl. 


	3. Chapter 3

Sophie woke up with an uncomfortable, yet warm sunlight hitting her face. Her back was sore from sleeping on the ground after her bed broke the night before and as much as the sun told her to wake up, she didn't want to move, it was kind of soothing waking up this way and staying in "bed" for a while. She pulled her blanket as to cover her shoulders and slightly opened her eyes, struggling as the light hit her. All the memories from the day before came rushing in her mind and she couldn't help but smile and give a small giggle. Out of nowhere she heard Peter speak loud and clear.  
'Boys!' All of the lost boys gave a jump in their bed, waking up in a shock, and looked at Peter with their eyes not yet fully opened. 'And… Girl.' Sophie looked at him as she sat on the ground. Peter stood in front of the door that lead up to his own room, with both his hands on his waist. 'We are going on a treasure hunt!'  
'Yeah!' All the boys screamed as they jumped out of their beds, this time not by being woken up out of a sudden, but with excitement for the new adventure to come. Of course all the boys knew what this meant, but Sophie had absolutely no clue. For them it was just the excitement of searching and finding a new treasure. Whoever found the hidden chest first, would get a prise in shinny pure gold. But it was different for her, and she didn't even know she would need to be the one to find it, to belong to Neverland.  
'What are we supposed to find?' asked Sophie as she got up.  
'You'll know when you find it' Peter winked at her. But his answer didn't really help her understand how this would work. How are you supposed to find something you don't even know what it is, after all? 'I've hidden it very well this time. You boys won't get it that easily.' Peter flew through the door to the outside of the house, as the boys quickly followed after him as well as Sophie. Peter stood up in the air with his hands on his waist.  
'Peter, what is the clue?' The twins asked at the same time.  
'The treasure lies below the ground where you cannot hear their voices sound.'  
'Does he always say nonsense stuff like this?' Sophie whispered to one of the boys next to her. The boy looked at her as to answer but his attention got turned to Peter again as he spoke. 'You have until midday, if no one finds it, I get to keep it again.' Peter said as he laid down against a tree that gave him coverage from the sun. 'Well? Get on with it.' All the boys started running. Each went in a different direction and Sophie stood still looking at all of them run. As they disappeared, she started running, choosing to go search to the left.  
After a while of searching, Sophie said to herself 'I don't even know what I'm looking for…' She said as she walked through the trees and pushed the leafs out of her way. 'What if I already ran into it? This game makes no sense… His rules make no sense… HE makes no sense… "Below the ground" Should I dig?' As she said this, the trees surrounding her came to an end and she ran into a beautiful clear blue lagoon. 'I don't remember this part of Neverland existing… But damn I'm thirsty. I wonder if this water is drinkable. I'm in Neverland, so I assume everything here is safe.' She walked up to the water and got on her knees. As she watched her clear reflection on the water, she dipped her hands in and scooped some water into them, to drink it. As she poured the water into her mouth, a woman pops out of the water, right in from of Sophie. She spat all the water to the woman's face and screamed, stepping back.  
'Oh my god! You almost killed me!' As she said this, she saw a big tail emerge from the water, close to the woman. 'Oh… I remember! This is… Mermaid lagoon.'  
'And who are you?' The mermaid asked suspicious.  
'I'm Sophie.' She said as she got closer to the mermaid again. 'Peter brought me to Neverland.'  
'Peter?' She asked surprised. Suddenly three more mermaids popped out of the water repeating after their friend.  
'Peter Pan?' They all looked at Sophie, swimming up to the margin, to look at her closely. They all stared at her, gaping, and started to touch her hair and skin. Sophie got a little creeped out and got up to her feet.  
The mermaids swam to the rocks to sit and stand as tall as Sophie now did. They all started mumbling to each other, in a way Sophie couldn't hear them. 'Her hair and skin are really pretty and soft… We can't let her stay here. Not around Peter.'  
One of them spoke up to Sophie. 'Would you like to join us? You're so pretty, you could easily pass for a mermaid.'  
'Oh… I… Don't think that's true. You're all so beautiful! Your hair is so long and amazing and your tails so shinny! I don't think that would work.' As Sophie said this, the mermaids got really cocky about it.  
'Oh, thank you!' They said as they touched their hair and tails in a cocky way.  
'Plus I don't really know how to swim…' As she said this, the mermaids all smiled to each other.  
'Oh, dear! We will teach you, come here!' One of the mermaids closer to her, started pulling her by her hand, trying to get her in the water.  
'I don't think that's a good idea.' Sophie hesitated.  
'You can trust us!' They smiled to her and gave her a pull strong enough to almost send her flying up into the water. Sophie splashed inside as she could hear their laughs coming from the surface. She started to panic as she realised she couldn't breath and as she tried to turn around, she noticed something shinning from the inside of a cave down underwater. 'I can't swim… I need to try to get up to breath!' She thought as she looked at the cave. She then remembered Peter's nonsense sentence '"Below the ground where you cannot hear their voices sound" that must mean the mermaids! Underwater where they don't speak…' She thought to herself as she noticed she was getting out of breath. 'Fuck it!' She said to herself in her own head. 'I might die either way, so I might as well try to get the treasure.' Sophie quickly started to wave her arms under the water trying to swim as best as she could, towards the cave.  
Almost at the entrance, she couldn't hold her breath for longer. She started to feel her senses fading away and she realised she wouldn't make it. She kept swimming towards the open door even with her vision starting to blur out. As she was about to give up and let out the air she had been holding in her lungs, she passes through the entrance and immediately falls to a cold ground made of stone. She breads in so desperately as her hair drips water in front of her face. As she gets her breath back, she runs her hand through her hair, to get it out of the way and looks back, seeing a wall of water at the door. This was definitely some sort of magic. But she was glad that was there because she wouldn't be able to make it any longer, if the water continued on the inside of the cave. She got up on her feet and spotted a treasure chest in front of her. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either.  
'This must be it!' She said as she got down to try and open it. But it was locked. 'That means… I have to take it to the surface? Oh god… This is where I die.' She picked the chest up and realised it wasn't that heavy, at least that. She walked up to the entrance and sighed. 'Okay, here I go again.' She took a deep breath, took a few steps back and ran into the water to gain an advantage and go as far as she could.  
The chest was definitely making it harder for her to swim, but under water it was a little lighter. She swam up, shaking her legs as fast as she could, to make in time and be able to breath without fainting. She could see the sunlight hitting the water as she got closer and in a swipe of legs she stick her head out in the surface and pulled the treasure up, placing her arms on top of it as it float.  
'You found it!' Sophie heard Peter's voice and looked to the side seeing Peter sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and an expression of excitement.  
'You wanted to kill me! I can't swim!'  
'But you did swim didn't you?' He said smiling.  
'You're insane! Help me get out of here!' Peter laughed and pulled Sophie out of the water, into the air and placed her on the dry warm land. Sophie let go of the treasure and cleaned her face as Peter stood up next to her. Sophie squeezed the water out of her hair, and then gave a small jump, as Peter crows out of nowhere, lifting himself up into the air with both his hands around his mouth to intensify the noise. 'You're going to kill me with a heart attack someday.'  
'Don't worry, I would never harm you, only Captain Hook! The boys must be getting here any second now!' He placed one of his hands above his eyes, trying to spot the boys above the trees, while his other hand rested on his waist.  
Sophie starts hearing boyish screams from the distance, so she gets up and stands by the chest. All the boys jump at the same time out of the bushes in front of Sophie and Peter.  
'Oh man! She found it!' One of the boys says with an upset tone. All the boys gave a sad moan.  
'That means the treasure is all hers!' Peter says.  
'Oh, don't be sad. I can share with you guys.' As she said this, Peter unlocked the chest with a key he had in his pocket and let Sophie open it up.  
'Go ahead!' He said smiling to her as he stood by the chest. Sophie got down once again and opened the lid of the chest. Inside she saw a black and white piece of clothing. She looked at Peter.  
'Is this it?'  
'You must look at it closely!'  
She picked it up and realised it was an onesie, like the one that the boys had, only this one had a white hood with black ears.  
'That should replace those wet clothes you have.' Peter said smiling at her. Sophie realised what this meant and started to take her clothes off right there, not even caring about the boys. 'Boys, cover your eyes!' Peter said immediately and covered his as well with one hand.  
'You can open now.' Sophie said. Peter looked at her. Her onesie was all white, with black on her arms and legs. Her hood covered the top of her head, as her long hair laid in the front coming out from it.  
'It fits you!' Peter said as he gave a big smile. Sophie ran up to him and hugged him. Peter got surprised by the hug but smiled. 'You're officially a lost girl!' Sophie let go of him and smiled with tears in her eyes.  
'Thank you!'  
All the boys ran up to her and hoorayed the new member of their tribe.  
'Tink! Come join us!' Peter said looking back to the forest. Tinkerbell came out flying in his direction with the face of someone who was not very amused. Sophie looked at her and hugged her with the excitement. Careful enough not to crush her. Tinkerbell ended up giving a smile and rolled her eyes as Sophie hugged her. She then flew up into the air and sprayed them all with her pixie dust, making the boys instantly start to fly.  
Peter took Sophie's hand and flew up, encouraging her to fly up with him. She lifted off the ground and Peter let go of her hand to crow once more in excitement, with his hands on his chest. Sophie laughed at him and then crowed with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Back in the tree house all the boys rested their full bellies in their beds, after a big dinner. Sophie felt even more cosy now that she had that fluffy onesie but as she laid back in her new made bed, her mind began to play her tricks once more and she began to think that maybe she did not belong there because she was old. She looked at Peter's room door, that was covered by a big bear's fur and she felt the need to speak with him, so she got up and walked up to his room.  
'Peter?' She said as she peeked to the inside of the room, pushing the fur aside. She saw Peter playing his Hawaiian Pan flute, sitting on his bed. When he heard her voice, he stopped playing.  
'What is it? Come in.' He said as he saw worry in her face. She stepped in and sat on his bed, crossing her legs.  
'Did you really meant it? About me being a kid? Do I really belong here?' She said looking down at her hands that were resting on her crossed legs.  
'Of course! I would never lie!' Peter said reassuring her.  
'But I'm the only one here who's… older. I'm not supposed to be a kid anymore. I am a grownup pretending to be a kid. You said it yourself before: Once you grow up, you can never go back.'  
'That's not entirely true. I've also said before that you're a kid in your heart, it doesn't matter what your world rules are.'  
'But…' Peter placed his hand on Sophie's chin and turned her face to him. She looked him in the eyes.  
'Look. I've never said this to anyone but you might have noticed that I don't look as young as the lost boys either. But I am a kid because I chose to never grow up to be an adult and now so did you. What your age is supposed to be doesn't matter, but I'm not far from yours, that's as much as I'm going to say. What matters is what your mind wants to be and here in Neverland you won't age anymore as long as your mind doesn't either.' Sophie looked at his as he spoke, without pronouncing a word and without breaking eye contact. 'You're my lost girl now.' Peter said giving Sophie a smile. As Peter said those last words, Sophie's heart started to beat extremely fast and as it did she could only wonder why that was happening. Why did she react to those words? And she couldn't help but ask.  
'Your lost girl?'  
'Yeah! Just like the lost boys! You belong with us now.' Sophie suddenly felt the tingly feeling in her heart stop.  
'So he didn't mean that…' She thought to herself. 'What am I even getting sad about? What is happening? And why is he so cute? God, no, don't fall in love…' She got up from his bed and spoke up to him. 'Thanks, Peter. I… I should go now. You must be tired.' As she said this she started walking backwards to the door, still facing him. 'At least I am tired so… Well, see you tomorrow!' As she kept walking backwards she hit her head on the wall behind her. 'Ouch. Okay, bye!' She said awkwardly as she turned to face the door and ran to her bed. Peter laughed staring at his door.  
'What is up with her?' He laid back on his bed and started to play his pan flute once more.  
'Oh god… I'm so ridiculous.' Sophie said to herself as she hid her face on her pillow.  
The next morning Sophie woke up with one of her guinea pigs licking her nose. She hugged him immediately and got up to go give them some food but then realised she had no guinea pig food so she decided to go outside to look for some plants to feed them. She walked on the tip of her toes as to not wake any of the boys up, and left the tree house.  
Outside, Sophie started collecting some fresh green grass and dandelions she found close by.  
'This is far from enough… I need to find something with vitamin C.' She said as she looked at what she had collected. She walked up to the trees and started searching into the forest. Then she ran into a tree full of red apples. 'This should work for now!' Sophie tried to jump and catch the ones that were closer to the floor, but despite being older, she was so tiny and small, she couldn't even reach them with the tip of her fingers. Quitting that strategy, she decided to climb the tree, in order to get at least two or three apples. She climbed some feet up into the tree, she held on tight and stretched one of her arms as far as she could. As her hand was practically grabbing the apple when Peter's face appeared right beside her.  
'What are you doing?' His sudden appearance scared her so badly, she screamed and immediately let go of the tree. Peter flew down to the ground and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground. 'Trying to play hide and seek?' Peter laughed and smiled at her. 'I guess I found you.'  
'I swear to god, Peter…' Sophie gave a sigh of relief. 'You can't just show up like that!'  
'But if you knew I was coming, you would have ran off your hiding spot and won.'  
'You're so silly.' Sophie laughed and got up into the ground. 'I need those apples for my piggies.' Sophie pointed at the apples on the tree.  
'Oh, I will get them for you.' Peter flew up into the tree, grabbed ten apples into his arms and flew down to Sophie. 'There you go, now let's go play hide and seek. I will call the boys.'  
'I didn't need that many…' Sophie looked at the apples surprised. Peter let them go into the ground and flew to the tree to call the boys. 'How am I going to take all of these?' Sophie struggled to pick up all the apples at the same time. As soon as she made a huge pile in her arms, they would all fall down as she made a movement. She eventually realised her onesie has pockets and placed two of them in each, taking the rest in her arms.  
As she was getting to the tree house all the boys came running past her, making her almost lose balance, while Peter flew above them.  
'Come on!' Peter said as he flew past her. Sophie looked up at him and saw her both piggies flying on his back.  
'Oh god! Be careful!' Sophie said to him as she started running with the apples, following Peter. She caught up with him as he landed on the ground next to the boys and he had the piggies in his hands now, laying them down on the grass.  
'Don't worry, they're okay!' Peter said to her as the piggies started to eat the grass in front of them. Sophie laid the apples next to the piggies who instantly let go of the grass and started nibbling on the apples.  
'It's my turn!' Peter shouts with excitement. 'I'm counting to 20! 1… 2… 3…' Sophie gets alarmed at Peter's counting and when she turns around, she doesn't see any of the boys there, only Peter up in the air with one of his arms covering his eyes. She ran as fast as she could, deeper into the woods. As she ran, she tripped and fell into the floor.  
'Careful! You're going to ruin my hiding spot!' said one of the boys whispering to her. She looked back and realised she had tripped on a lost boy.  
'Oh, sorry!' she got up.  
'Ready or not here I come!' Sophie heard Peter loud and clear. As she looked around her, she started to hear his footsteps getting closer. She had no time to find a good hiding spot, so she ran right to the closest tree she could find, far from the other boy and hid behind it.  
'I found you!' Sophie heard Peter's voice so close and after him, a whining boy complaining. Her heart started to beat fast as she stood still like a rock. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. She knew he was about to pass by her tree so she started to walk around it, the opposite way the sound was coming from. As she got to the opposite side of the tree she was standing before, she saw the boy Peter had found, sitting on the floor pouting. The boy noticed her and immediately warned her of Peter's presence getting closer by her side, making signals with his hand. Sophie didn't understand what the boy meant until she heard Peter.  
'Who are you giving signals to?' He gave an mischievous laugh.  
'Shit!' Sophie thought to herself. Then she noticed a rock by her feet and instinctively picked it up and threw it to some bushes far ahead, in front of her, making noise to trick Peter. As he passed the tree, she followed his movement and walked around it. After a few seconds, she peeked around the tree to see Peter looking into the bushes far ahead and gave a sigh of relief. Then she thought about changing the game a little bit as she saw Peter's sword on his waist when he was facing the other way.  
Without making a sound, Sophie got closer to Peter, running from tree to tree. When she caught him backwards to her, she quickly jumped at him and took his sword from him, making him face her immediately.  
'I guess I found you too!' Peter said laughing. He tried to start running past her but Sophie got in front of him with his sword pointed at him.  
'Not so fast!' She said with an amused expression. Peter looked at his sword in her hands and then looked at her with a serious face.  
'Hey, give that back!' he tried to take his sword, by going around it.  
'No.' said Sophie laughing as she followed Peter's hand movement with the sword, making him step back. She then ran up into a tree, climbed it and sat down on one of the branches.  
'I'm not joking around! You better get back here, right now.' Peter said with his intimidating look and his arms crossed. He didn't leave the place he stood, which made it even more intimidating. Sophie turned upside down in the branch, holding herself up with only her legs, while she played with the sword.  
'Or what?' She said teasing him. Peter didn't have the courage to banish her as he did with Tinkerbell, and he didn't want to.  
'You're worse than the boys…' He said as he gave an irritated sigh.  
'Why do you say that?' She asked still very amused with the sword.  
'They know how to follow rules.' Sophie focused her attention on Peter after he said this and it got her thinking for a while. Then she got down from the tree and walked up to Peter as she spoke.  
'You know what… I say rules are for grownups. There's no fun in having to follow rules!' She stated as she kept the sword pointed at him. After this the boys appeared from several different places to meet with them.  
'Yeah, she's right!' they all agreed. They had been listening to the whole conversation as they were close by. Sophie looked at them and smiled, looking back at Peter with a confidant look.  
'Is that so?' said Peter, still irritated. 'Fine. No more rules, then. Do whatever you want.' All the boys cheered at Sophie and she smiled in victory.  
'Let's go back to the house, boys!' Sophie said encouraging them to follow her and leave their, now, old leader. Peter turned to look at them walk away.  
'They'll come back.'


	5. Chapter 5

Peter waited a while, sitting against a tree, covered from the sun. Usually by this time the boys would have come back, it was only a matter of minutes until the boys realised they would never want to leave Peter's guidance. Peter felt betrayal as they did not come back immediately and started doubting if they would. But then he thought that Captain Hook must have had something to do it. The boys would never leave him like that. So he went to look for them by the tree house, and make sure they were okay.  
Back inside the house, Peter arrived and heard some noises that were coming from the inside of his room. He immediately went to check on what was happening, when he saw Sophie, followed by the rest of the boys jumping around on top of his bed and laughing with joy. He stood at the entrance to his room with a very angry expression.  
'What are you doing? This is my room! None of you are allowed in here.' Peter stated.  
'Now it belongs to everyone! You can't tell us what to do anymore.' Sophie said still jumping on Peter's bed. 'Come on Peter, don't be so serious. Come join us!' Sophie held her hand at him. Peter refused to take it and be a part of that nonsense. He turned his back on them and walked away from the room, maintaining his dignity and his temper.  
As he laid down on one of the hammocks, with his arms crossed and one of his knees on top of the other, Tinkerbell sat on top of them, looking at him with a cocky expression, as if it was proven by Sophie's acts that she was finally right. Peter looked at her and his bad mood took over.  
'What do you want?' He said in an aggressive tone. Tinkerbell didn't react at all to his anger, she simply kept her cockiness and answered him with her tinkles. 'I know, but what can I do about it?' Peter questioned her, but said it almost like a rhetorical question. Tinkerbell answered him once more. 'No… I couldn't do that… I can't banish her.' Peter refused to take Tinkerbells advice but she kept insisting. 'I know I need to recover my leadership, but I don't want her to go away!' Peter refused once more and Tinkerbell made him another deal, just like a demon would. 'I guess, I could try that…' Peter answered thoughtful. Tinkerbell gave a mischievous laugh as she looked at Sophie that was still in Peter's room.  
As the next day arrived, the boys wanted a new game for the day, so they instinctively went to Peter.  
'Hey, Pan, what is the game for today?' asked one of the boys as the others waited in excitement.  
'Why are you asking me? I don't give the rules anymore.' Said Peter with a careless expression on his face, not even looking at the boys. They all looked at each other, the excitement fading from their faces, as they had no clue what to do without someone leading them. Sophie was nearby, cutting some apples to feed her piggies, when she intervened.  
'I guess telling us what game to play, isn't exactly making rules, you're just making a suggestion.' She said in a friendly but teasing way just to contradict him.  
'Great!' Peter got up effortlessly, into the air. 'Who wants to play catch?' Peter asked with excitement. All the boys got their joy back and immediately agreed to the game. 'Now we just need to find something to play with.' Peter looked all around the room until he made his choice. 'I know!' He flew to Sophie's bed and picked up both her piggies. 'Hey, twins, catch!' Peter threw both the guinea pigs at the twins who fortunately got them with no problem. Sophie heard the piggies squeaks as they were thrown, turning her back to look at them and saw them flying up into the twins.  
'What are you doing? Be careful!' She shouted at them as she ran to the twins, but before she could reach them, Peter spoke.  
'Throw here, twins!' The piggies flew once more into Peter.  
'Stop that! They can get hurt!' Sophie demanded.  
'Is that an order I hear?' Peter teased as they all passed the guinea pigs around, avoiding them to get caught by Sophie, who desperately tried to save them, running around in circles.  
'I'm not joking! This is not something to play with!' She started to get upset over this ridiculous situation.  
'Rules are for grownups, we only like to joke and play!' Peter said laughing as they kept on with the game.  
'Okay! You're right, we need rules! I was wrong, please stop!' As Sophie said this, Peter caught them both and kept them safe in his hands. The boys looked at Peter confused, wondering if the game was over. Peter handed the guinea pigs to Sophie. She grabbed them tightly in her arms, with tears filling up her eyes, but she didn't let it show and contained her feelings. He smiled at her, for his well succeeded plan.  
'I hope you boys got that lesson as well.' The boys looked at each other and shook their heads affirmatively to Peter, pretending to know what just happened.  
'You win this time, Peter Pan…' said Sophie, walking away to her bed right after, with both her piggies still wrapped in her arms. Peter gave a small laugh, looking at her walk away.  
'So… Does this mean you're the leader again?' asked the boys still confused. Peter got his attention back to them.  
'As I always have been.' The boys cheered at Peter. They really preferred to be under Peter's guidance, because they just felt lost without him, besides, Peter was always a great leader, and what best leader could a kid ask for, other than another kid himself?  
Tinkerbell snapped her fingers in delusion, after Sophie's reaction not going as she hoped. She just wanted her to leave Neverland, but Peter wasn't too fond of that idea, and Sophie only made things harder.  
Later on the day, as the sun began to disappear in the horizon, Peter walked up to Sophie to check on her, as he felt maybe he had been too hard.  
'How's my lost girl doing?' Peter said as he sat next to her on the bed, with his legs crossed.  
'I'm fine.' She said, not even looking at him. Peter tried to understand her emotions through her inexpressive face, but he had no luck.  
'How about we go play another game?' Peter said smiling.  
'No, thanks.' She kept answering with a cold tone.  
'Hey, what's wrong?' Peter pocked her with his elbow, trying to get some emotion out of her.  
'Oh, nothing. You just threw my guinea pigs around. That's not something you joke about, they're fragile and could get hurt. It's not something you do to prove a point.' Peter slowly realised how bad it was what he had done to her.  
'Oh… It was Tink's idea.' Peter tried to excuse himself from the guilt.  
'Don't blame it on her! You agreed to it!' Sophie said looking at him with deadly eyes.  
'You're right. I'm sorry…' Peter said, scratching his head, with the guilt building up inside him. Sophie stopped looking at him and didn't gave him any response in return. Peter stood up and walked over to Tinkerbell's tiny room, where she would be resting.  
'Tink! Was this your plan?' Peter said in a low but angry tone, as he lifted Tinkerbell's leaf that served as a door. Tinkerbell looked at him in surprise but then gave him another cocky look while she answered him with her tinkles.  
'You made me hurt her feelings so she would leave!' While Peter said this, Tinkerbell gave him a careless expression.  
'You're in big trouble! I will take care of you later.' Peter dropped the leaf, backing away from her room, and started to walk around the house back and ford, thinking of what he could do to make it up to Sophie. The boys followed Peter's movement with their eyes, without knowing what to do, until one of them got up from his sit and stepped in front of Peter making him lose his track of thought. He looked at the boy and stopped walking. The boy gave Peter a signal for him to lower himself down. Peter did so, and the boy whispered into his ear.  
'I heard girls like music, and dancing…' As the boy ended saying this, Peter got up and stood still thinking to himself, with his hand placed on his chin. An idea crossed his mind as he ran into his room. He came out with an old turntable he had once stolen from Captain Hook. He had a vague idea of how it worked, but he definitely knew that it played music, because it was playing when he had stolen it.  
Peter took it to the middle of the house and placed it on top of a table close by. He spent a few minutes trying to make it play in any way he could think of, until sound started coming off of the machine, when he placed the needle on the disk as it turned.  
When Sophie heard music playing, Peter was already in front of her with his hand held at her, and a big dorky smile on his face. Sophie didn't know what was happening and she hoped he was not inviting her to dance. Peter placed his other arm behind his back and made a bow.  
'Ma'am.' He said as he waited for her approval.  
'Uh… I don't dance.' Sophie replied to his request. Peter looked at her and wouldn't take a no as an answer. He took her by her hand and started spinning her around the room at the sound of the music.  
'Peter, what are you doing?' said Sophie slight frightened at his insanity. Peter laughed like he was having the best time of his life. He then lifted off the ground, pulling her up by her hands.  
'I don't have pixie dust.' Sophie said as she struggled not to fall down on the ground. Peter knew Tinkerbell wouldn't help him in this situation.  
'Don't worry, I got you!' Peter said smiling, as he placed one of his arms around her waist and pressing her against his body, he lifted her off the ground with him, while holding her hand with his other hand. He span around in the air, as best as he knew. He had seen Wendy dancing before with her husband, when he went to visit her, as she grew older.  
Sophie couldn't help but laugh at his dancing skills, making Peter relieved that she wasn't upset anymore. He smiled at her as they flew around the room, dancing like fools. Sophie stared into his eyes and her cheeks went full pink, but she didn't care. She just smiled at him and enjoyed this moment, making her mind slowly erase the past event. 


End file.
